PURPOSE: The present study purposed to investigate Korean adults health status, smoking perception. and self-efficacy of smoking cessation according to whether smoking or not. METHODS: This study conducted a questionnaire survey of 694 adults at D County in Korea during the period from the 10th of June to the 10th of July 2004. The instruments used for this study were scales on health status, smoking perception and self-efficacy: of smoking cessation. Data was analyzed by frequency and percentage, mean and SD, chi2-test, t-test, ANOVA using SPSS 11.0 program. RESULTS: The subjects of this study were 503 men and 191 women, and 60.8% of the male subjects and 6.8% of the female subjects were smokers. With respect to health status (t=-2.58, p=0.010), smoking perception (t=10.59. p<0.000) and the self-efficacy of smoking cessation (t=-23.04, p<0.000), there were significant differences according to whether smoking or not. CONCLUSIONS: It is necessary to make repeated study to find other variables that affect adults smoking and to develop smoking cessation programs that enhance the self-efficacy of smoking cessation.
Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Smoke* ; Smoking Cessation* ; Smoking* ; Weights and Measures ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Artichia with papular lesions is a rare congenit,al disease characteriezed by the association of alopecia and papular lesions. We report a case of atrichia with papular lesions in 12-year-old. Alopecia of the scalp and eye brows were present at birth. Nurnerous papular lesions are presentation the trunk, buttock and inguinal area. The histopathologic iinding of a papular lesion showed ker till-filled cyst, and eruptive vellous hair cyst. The patient showed reticulat.ed hyperpigmentation on the hands and feet in addition to the characteristic feature of atriclia with papular lesions.
Alopecia ; Buttocks ; Child ; Foot ; Hair ; Hand ; Humans ; Hyperpigmentation ; Parturition ; Scalp

Treatment modalities for herniated lumbar intervertebral disc are the conservative method, chemonucleolysis, percutaneous diskectomy and operation. Conservative treatment is effective in 70–80% of the acute stage and the other 20% requires chemonucleolysis, percutaneous diskectomy or operation. Indications for operation are cases not improved after conservative treatment, recurrent cases and cauda equina syndrome. Mixter and Barr(1934) demonstrated that laminectomy and surgical removal of disc material could relieve symptoms, but spinal segmental instability, incomplete removal of the disc and postoperative adhesion of the nerve root caused low back pain after long-term follow up. Thus, the authors evaluated the plain X-ray and computed tomographic findings in 21 cases of failed laminectomy to determine the cause of failure. The results were as follows ; 1. Among 21 cases, 18 cases complained of low back pain with sciatica and 3 cases complained of low back pain. 2. In all cases, disc space narrowing was detected on plain X-ray. Total laminectomy and diskectomy promote insufficiency and instability of the lumbar and lumbosacral spine. Whenever one attempts to do total laminectomy and diskectomy, it is recommended that spine fusion be performed in same operating field. 3. Several findings were detected on CT scan : 8 disc protrusions in the operation site, 6 disc protrusions in the operation site and spinal stenosis, 4 extradural scars, 1 extradural scar and other site disc protrusion and 2 cases of spinal stenosis and spondyloisthesis. 4. Computed tomography in cases of failed laminectomy offers more information than has been available by any other imaging method.
Cicatrix ; Diskectomy ; Diskectomy, Percutaneous ; Follow-Up Studies ; Intervertebral Disc ; Intervertebral Disc Chemolysis ; Laminectomy ; Low Back Pain ; Methods ; Polyradiculopathy ; Sciatica ; Spinal Stenosis ; Spine ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of a smoking cessation program on the amount of smoking and nicotine dependence and the self-efficacy of smoking cessation for smoking workers. METHODS: The total number of subjects was 38 smokers and was divided into two: 16 smokers were placed in the experimental group and 22 in the control group. A nonequivalent control group pretestposttest design was used. The smoking cessation program consisted of two sessions and was implemented for two hours daily for five days. Data was analyzed by using the SPSS/WIN 11.0 program with Chi2-test, t-test or Mann-Whitney U and ANCOVA. RESULTS: After the treatment, those belonging to the experimental group showed a significantly decreased amount of smoking, a decreased nicotine dependency and increased self-efficacy compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: The smoking cessation program was effective for diminishing the amount of smoking, decreasing nicotine dependence and improving self-efficacy. Therefore, this program is recommended as a smoking cessation strategy for adult smokers.
Adult ; Chi-Square Distribution ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Patient Education as Topic ; *Self Efficacy ; Smoking/*psychology ; Smoking Cessation/*methods/psychology ; Tobacco Use Disorder/*prevention & control

A Comparative study was retrospectively performed with 374 infants in order to find protective effect of breast feeding for infection. This study shows that breast feeding protect infant against gastrointestinal and respiratory infection. Breast feeding offers advantage by reducing gastraintestinal and respiratory infection when they should maintain breast feeding for at least three months. 1) First year morbidity increased with extent of artificial feeding and was nearly two fold for babies not breast-fed. 2) Prescence of older sibling, low birth weight and male sex are associated with increased morbidity. 3) Infant illness from 0~3 months, 4~6 months, 7~10 months, 11~12 moths was analyzed. Compared with the 108 bottle fed babies, the babies who had been partially (40) or fully (136) breast fed had significantly lower rate of gastrointestinal illness at 7~10 month (p<0.05), 11~12 month (p<0.005) and respiratory illness at 7~10 month (p<0.05). 4) Between the early weaning group (90) and the bottle group (108) showed no siggnificant difference. 5) Among the babies observed throughout the first year of life, 35 (9%) and 46 (12) were admitted to hospital with gastrointestinal and respiratory infection. Babies who were breast fed for more than 3 month had significant lower rate for hospital admission due to gastrointestinal and respiratory infection when compared with bottle fed babies. Breast feeding durning more than 3 month of life confers protection against gastrointestinal and respiratory infection.
Breast Feeding* ; Breast* ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Moths ; Nutritional Support ; Retrospective Studies ; Siblings ; Weaning

The effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy have been documented in 10 patients with radiation-induced cystitis refractory to conventional management. Seven patients were treated for 40-70 consecutive days, 90 minutes each day with 100 per cent oxygen at 2.4 atmospheres absolute pressure in a multiplace unit. Seven patients achieved the relief of gross hematuria and improvement of bladder irritative symptoms without side effect for an average 16.7 months (range 6 to 27 months). Hyperbaric oxygen therapy was stopped in three patients because of febrile sense in trunk, pneumonia and cancer recurrence. This experience suggests that hyperbaric oxygen therapy might be considered the primary treatment of patients with symptomatic radiation-induced cystitis.
Atmosphere ; Cystitis* ; Hematuria ; Humans ; Hyperbaric Oxygenation* ; Oxygen ; Pneumonia ; Recurrence ; Urinary Bladder

The present study was designed to estimate the seroprevalence of NLVs among diarrheagenic children and in healthy adults in Seoul and its vicinity with the use of an EIA and an Western blot (WB) based on recombinant Norwalk virus capsid protein (rNV) and crude virus preparations as antigen. Seroconversion was observed in 34 (83%) of 41 tested using the EIA and in 21 (54%) of 39 using the WB, suggesting that the NLVs with epitopes common to rNV are prevalent in Seoul area. Diarrheal children who were known to have been infected with several other strains of the NLVs showed no significant antibody response to the rNV. Infection with rNV occurred earlier in life: primary infections with rNV were common before the age of 6 months and over 91% of children had evidence of infection by that age by the EIA. Since the amount of the NLV antigens available for seroepidemiologic surveys is limited, we tried to detect NLV antibody by using crude virus preparations as antigen. One crude virus preparation of a child whose stool yielded genetically distinct NLV revealed the presence of the plural number of bands upon SDS-PAGE, but precipitated only one band (62 kDa) after the WB with a serum (collected 10 days after the onset of symptoms) of another diarrheal child. The WB assay we present in this report revealed that the NLVs are prevalent among Korean population and that the sera contained antibody to a single major structural protein, with molecular sizes of 58 to 62 kDa, compatible with the sizes reported for the Norwalk virus and Snow Mountain agent proteins, respectively. When the results of the WB were compared with those obtained by the EIA, the EIA antibody assay was sensitive enough to detect an antibody rise of as much as 4096-fold but not as specific as the WB. The WB assay presented in this paper will provide a powerful tool to elucidate not only antigenic structures of the NLVs but also seroepidemiology of the NLV infection. The availability of an unlimited source of antigen will enable a large scale serologic studies that will greatly increase our understanding of the role of NLVs in human enteric illness.
Adult ; Antibody Formation ; Blotting, Western ; Capsid Proteins ; Capsid* ; Child ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Epitopes ; Humans ; Norovirus* ; Norwalk virus* ; Seoul* ; Seroepidemiologic Studies* ; Snow

Idiopathic progressive atrophoderma of Pasini and Pierini(IPAPP) is charcterized by sharply dermatcated, atrophic and slate-gray to brownish patches. We report a 17-year-old female with well-defined, atrophic, and brown colored patched on the abdomen, flank, and back. Histologic finding showed marked thining of dermis with thichening of collagen fibers and fragmentation of elastic fibers.
Abdomen ; Adolescent ; Collagen ; Dermis ; Elastic Tissue ; Female ; Humans

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to confirm the factor structure of the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire-Revised (MQOL-R) in the context of Korean culture and to verify its reliability and validity. Methods: The participants comprised terminal cancer patients aged 25 or older, and data from 164 participants were analyzed. The study was conducted in the following order: translation, expert review, reverse translation, preliminary investigation and interviews, and completion of the final version. Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to evaluate the validity of the instrument, and the Beck Depression Inventory, Korean version (K-BDI) was applied to confirm the criterion validity of the MQOLR Korean version. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, representing internal consistency, was measured to evaluate reliability. Results: Cronbach’s alpha for all 14 questions was 0.862. The model fit indices for confirmatory factor analysis were within the acceptance criteria. The factor loadings of all four factors were over 0.50, and convergent validity and discriminant validity were confirmed. Regarding criterion validity, a negative correlation was found between the four factors of MQOL-R Korean version and the K-BDI. Conclusion The MQOL-R Korean version, the reliability and validity of which were verified in this study, is a 15-item tool consisting of 14 items dealing with four physical, psychological, existential, and social factors and a single item evaluating the overall quality of life. The MQOL-R Korean version is an instrument that can more concisely and effectively measure the quality of life of patients with life-threatening diseases.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Korean version of the Quality of Life in LifeThreatening Illness - Family Carer Version 3 (QOLLTI-F v3) among Korean family caregivers of patients with terminal cancers. Methods: A total of 198 family caregivers of terminal cancer patients were investigated using the Korean version of QOLLTI-F v3. Its psychometric properties were examined in terms of factor structure, convergent validity, discriminant validity, criterion validity and internal consistency. Results: The convergent validity of the Korean version of QOLLTI-F v3 showed that the standardized regression weights for each item were above .50 except for two out of 16 items, the average variance extracted was above .50 for four out of five factors, and the critical ratio ranged from .50 to .85. The discriminant validity of the items across all factors was confirmed. The value for Cronbach’s α of 16 items was .84. Conclusion The Korean version of the QOLLTI-F v3 is a reliable instrument with acceptable convergent and high discriminant validity for measuring the quality of life of families of people with life-threatening illnesses, including families of people with terminal cancers.